Nomination of Robert E. Barbour To Be United States Ambassador to Suriname

The President today announced his intention to nominate Robert E. Barbour, of Tennessee, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, as Ambassador to the Republic of Suriname. He would succeed Robert W. Duemling.

Mr. Barbour entered the Foreign Service in 1949 as a clerk in Basra, Iraq. From 1950 to 1951, he was an intern in the Department. He was an administrative assistant in Tokyo from 1952 to 1954 and attended Vietnamese language training at Georgetown University from 1954 to 1955. He was political officer in Saigon (1955-1957), principal officer in Hue, Vietnam (1957-1958), political officer in Paris (1958-1961) and in Saigon (1961-1963). From 1963 to 1967, he was desk officer for Western European affairs in the Department. From 1967 to 1972, he was political officer in Rome and attended the Royal College of Defence Studies in London from 1972 to 1973. In the Department he was special assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (1973-1974), Chief of the Performance Evaluation Division (1974-1975), Director of the Office of Western European Affairs (1975-1976), and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (1976-1978). He was deputy chief of mission in Madrid from 1978 to 1984. Since 1984 he has been Deputy Examiner of the Board of Examiners for the Foreign Service in the Department.

Mr. Barbour received his B.A. in 1949 from the University of Tennessee. His foreign languages are Spanish, French, and Italian. He was born December 23, 1927, in Cleveland, OH.